2007 Lebanon conflict

The 2007 Lebanon conflict occurred from 20 May to 7 September 2007 when the Palestinian Islamist militant groups Fatah al-Islam and Jund al-Sham rebelled against the Lebanese government in the Nahr al-Bared and Ain al-Hilweh refugee camps. The Islamist uprisings were crushed, restoring order to Lebanon.

Background
In the aftermath of the Lebanese Civil War, the 400,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon were treated with deep suspicion by the Lebanese people for their militancy during the civil war. Until 2005, the Palestinians were restricted from working in over 70 skilled professions, and they were marginalized within Lebanese society, living in overpopulated and destitute refugee camps. One of the camps was the Nahr al-Bared camp to the north of Tripoli, which housed 30,000 displaced Palestinians. al-Qaeda attempted to expand into Lebanon through the recruitment of disenfranchised Palestinian refugees, leading to the creation of militant groups such as Fatah al-Islam and Jund al-Sham. Fatah al-Islam had the goal of reforming the Palestinian refugee camps in accordance with sharia, and al-Qaeda called on every Muslim to support Fatah al-Islam in its quest. In February 2007, Fatah al-Islam bombed two buses at the Christian village of Ain Alak, leading to increased scrutiny of Islamist terrorist groups in the country.

Conflict
On 20 May 2007, Lebanese police officers raided a Fatah al-Islam safehouse in Tripoli, triggering clashes with the local militants. The militants resisted arrest, leading to the violence spreading to neighboring streets. The Fatah al-Islam fighters ambushed and slaughtered 27 Lebanese Army soldiers in their sleep and killed several civilians who were in league with the military, and, from 21 to 31 May, the Fatah al-Islam fighters continued battling the army at the outskirts of the refugee camp while Lebanese tanks and artillery shelled the camp. Lebanese troops, tanks, and APCs surrounded the camp, and the United States delivered military aid shipments to the military through Beirut International Airport. From 1 to 2 June, the Lebanese armor launched a ground offensive against the Nahr al-Bared camp, and 19 people were killed, including 3 soldiers. Fatah al-Islam leader Abu Riyadh was shot dead by an army sniper, but the attack was repelled after 48 hours. After mediators failed to convince the Islamists to surrender, the attack was resumed from 9 to 12 June, and the soldiers were ambushed by booby-trapped buildings and other Fatah al-Islam positions. 11 soldiers, 16 militants, and 2 civilians were killed and 100 soldiers wounded, and much of the fighting was close-quarters and hand-to-hand. Fom 16 to 19 June, the Lebanese reopened their artillery bombardments against the camp and launched another assault, taking over six Fatah al-Islam positions over the next 48 hours with helicopter support. On 19 June, the last Fatah al-Islam positions were taken, and, by 21 June, the outer parts of the camp had fallen. The fighting continued for weeks, briefly spilling over into the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp of Sidon, where Jund al-Sham was crushed after a brief uprising. In July, the military continued its assault on the Nahr al-Bared camp while braving Katyusha rockets, and the army was forced to defuse several booby-traps. The fighting continued for months; Fatah al-Islam deputy commander Abu Hureira was killed in Abu Samra on 2 August 2007. On 24 August, the military allowed 63 family members, 25 women, and 38 children of the 100 remaining Islamist fighters to leave the Nahr al-Bared camp, and, on 30 August, attack helicopters began heavy bombing raids on the camp. On 2 September, the militants waged a breakout from the camp, which fell by 11:00 AM.

Aftermath
The short-lived Islamist uprising in Lebanon forced 31,000 Palestinian refugees to flee from Nahr al-Bared for other camps across the country, and the most severe fighting in Lebanon since the end of the Lebanese Civil War in 1990 was resolved with the camp's fall.